Astrology. a situation in which two heavenly bodies or groups of heavenly bodies have celestial longitudes differing by 90 degrees, an aspect indicative of internal tension with an equally strong and conflicting need for adjustment.

14.

Obsolete. a pattern, standard, or example.

verb (used with object), squared, squaring.

15.

to reduce to square, rectangular, or cubical form (often followed by off):

He squared off the log to make a timber for his house.

16.

to mark out in one or more squares or rectangles.

17.

to test with measuring devices for deviation from a right angle, straight line, or plane surface.

18.

Mathematics.

to multiply (a number or quantity) by itself; raise to the second power.

to describe or find a square that is equivalent in area to:

to square a circle.

19.

to bring to the form of a right angle or right angles; set at right angles to something else.

20.

to even the score of (a contest):

to square a game.

21.

to set (the shoulders and back) in an erect posture so they form an angle similar to a right angle.

22.

to make straight, level, or even:

Square the cloth on the table.

23.

to regulate, as by a standard; adapt; adjust.

24.

to adjust harmoniously or satisfactorily (often followed by with):

How could you square such actions with your conscience?

25.

to balance; pay off; settle:

to square a debt.

26.

Slang. to secure a desired action or attitude by means of bribery; bribe.

verb (used without object), squared, squaring.

27.

to accord or agree (often followed by with):

Your theory does not square with the facts.

28.

to settle, even, or balance a matter, as by paying a bill, returning a favor, or tying a score.

29.

(of a cotton plant) to form buds.

adjective, squarer, squarest.

30.

formed by or as a right angle; having some part or parts rectangular:

a square corner.

31.

having four sides and four right angles in two dimensions or three pairs of parallel sides meeting at right angles in three dimensions; having each dimension in the shape of a square or rectangle and all angles right angles:

a square box.

32.

noting any unit of area measurement having the form of a square and designated by a unit of linear measurement forming a side of the square:

one square foot.

33.

noting a system of area measurement in terms of such units.

34.

(of an area) equal to a square of a specified length on a side:

five miles square.

35.

at right angles, or perpendicular.

36.

Nautical. at right angles to the mast and the keel, as a yard.

37.

having a square or rectangular section:

a square bar.

38.

having a solid, sturdy form, especially when characterized by a rectilinear or angular outline.

39.

straight, level, or even, as a surface.

40.

leaving no balance of debt on either side; having all accounts settled:

I'm all square with my landlord.

41.

just, fair, or honest.

42.

straightforward, direct, or unequivocal.

43.

Slang. conventional or conservative in style or outlook; not hip.

adverb

44.

so as to be square; in square or rectangular form.

45.

at right angles.

46.

fairly or honestly.

47.

directly or straightforwardly.

Verb phrases

48.

square around, Baseball. (of a bunter) to shift the feet and body from a conventional batting stance to a position facing the pitcher, with the bat held across and in front of the body.

49.

square away,

Nautical. to arrange the yards so as to sail before the wind.

to prepare; get ready:

Square away for dinner.

to assume a position of defense or offense:

The wrestlers squared away for the first fall.

to organize or complete satisfactorily; put in order:

I want to square away the work before going on vacation.

50.

square off,

to assume a posture of defense or offense, as in boxing:

They squared off for a fight.

to prepare to dispute with another; show signs of opposition or resistance:

The governor and the legislature are squaring off over the landfill issue.

51.

square up, to pay or settle an account, bill, etc.:

We squared up with the cashier and checked out of the hotel.

Idioms

52.

on the square,

at right angles.

Informal. straightforward; honest; just:

Their dealings with us have always been on the square.

53.

out of square,

not at right angles.

not in agreement; incorrect; irregular:

The inspector's conclusions are out of square with his earlier report.

54.

square the circle, to strive without chance of success; attempt the impossible.

Meaning "rectangular shape or area" is recorded by late 14c.; replaced Old English feower-scyte. Sense of "open space in a town or park" is from 1680s. The mathematical sense of "a number multiplied by itself" is first recorded 1550s.

square

adj.

c.1300, "containing four equal sides and right angles," from square (n.). Meaning "honest, fair," is first attested 1560s; that of "straight, direct" is from 1804. Sense of "old-fashioned" is 1944, U.S. jazz slang, said to be from shape of a conductor's hand gestures in a regular four-beat rhythm. (Square-toes meant nearly the same thing in 1771, from a style of shoes then fallen from fashion.) Squaresville is attested from 1956. Square one "the beginning" is first recorded 1960, probably from board games; square dance first attested 1870.

square

v.

late 14c.; with reference to accounts, from 1815; see square (n.). Related: Squared; squaring.

To make things right, just, proper, etc: He could never square himself with the police after that(1859+)

[the sense ''conventional person, etc,'' is said to come fr a jazz musician's and standard conductor's hand gesture that beats out regular and unsyncopated four-beat rhythm, the hand doing so describing a square figure in the air]

The Dictionary of American Slang, Fourth Edition by Barbara Ann Kipfer, PhD. and Robert L. Chapman, Ph.D.Copyright (C) 2007 by HarperCollins Publishers.Cite This Source

Idioms and Phrases with square the circle

square the circle

Try to do the impossible, as in Getting that bill through the legislature is the same as trying to square the circle. This idiom alludes to the impossibility of turning a circle into a square. John Donne may have been the first to use it (Sermons, 1624): “Go not thou about to square either circle (God or thyself).”